Longterm project about working with disabled people in Brzeg Dolny, Poland!

Info about Receiving Organization – ŚDS in Brzeg Dolny
Środowiskowy Dom Samopomocy w Brzegu Dolnym (The House of Self-support for adults in Brzeg Dolny) is a day being place for adults with mental or intellectual disability. The goals of it are: to support the wards everyday, to help them in improvement of physical, psychical and social abilities. The House creates possibility of physical movement and manual exercises, getting know-how in simple everyday activities, personal hygiene and it integrates disabled people with local environment.
The Project will be run in The House of Self-support for adults in Brzeg Dolny. Brzeg Dolny is a commune with a population of 17 thousand and situated on the right bank of the Odra River within 30 kilometers from Wrocław. It forms an extension of the Wrocław Urban and industrial conurbation. Geographically, the commune of Brzeg Dolny is a part of Silesian Lowland. Its southern part is in the Odra valley and the northern Rościsławicka Upland. The landscape here is agricultural and forest in character (30 percent of the commune area).
In 1663, on receiving Urban rights (a diploma of emperor Leopold I) Brzeg Dolny was renamed Dyhrenfurth. In 1939 the Town had 2 thousand residents. After the Second World War two-thousand-strong Town changed into 14-thousand-stron city, a powerful center of industry, renowned in Poland.
For many years Brzeg Dolny has been associated with industry, on account of chemical companies, renowned in Poland and abroad. As for as communications is concerned, the Town is conveniently lince with Lubiąż, Oborniki Śląskie, Miękinia, Środa Śląska, Wołów, Żmigród, and the capital of the Lover Silesia – Wrocław. Besides, it is provided with an mainline running from Szczecin to Cracow.
Our city has well-developed lodging base with full social infrastructure (hospital, infirmary, two secondary schools, and sport-recreation structures as a covered swimming-pool, a sports hall, rest-recreation center, the cultural facilities with a cinema, a Network of good schools and nursery schools as well as the well developer commercial network.

Role of EVS volunteers in the host organization:

The volunteer will be involved in basic activities taking place in the House. The tasks may be divided into 3 main groups.
First consists of basic help in educating wards how to take care of themselves and helping them in everyday care taking including:
– Leading wards from the bus or train stations to leading them back
– Organizing and help in providing activities in sections of: cooking, bucketing, art, computers, physical movement and musical therapy
– Instructions in how to do simple everyday activities correctly (i.e.: to clean, to eat, to prepare food, to dress up)
-Instructions how to use tools, dishes and other items correctly; teaching good behaviour and motivating to develop
– Organizing free time in different forms: tourism, recreation, participation in cultural, sport and social events.
– Help in watching over security of wards – to look after them if they not hurt themselves or take care of attaching doors to the walls

The second group of tasks, equally important to the first, is the one that the center puts a lot of hope in and is the place where a volunteer will be able to use her/his creativity and artistic skills. This will be making a movie about how the House works, about its events and activities, together with helping in doing the photo- and video- documentation of cultural and educational activities.
Together with that comes a very important thing for us, that all suggestions and proposals made by volunteer are very welcome. We will try to implement all possible and fitting to our agenda ideas, especially cultural, leisure and tourists’ events for wards of the House.

The last group of activities is connected with planning and budget management. It’s a special part of program which called budget training and focuses on the helping families in daily routine of budget management.

During the project the volunteer will have the opportunity to develop his/her methodological knowledge about working with mentally disabled adults, learn some artistic techniques during participation in workshops, will improve communication skills both verbal and non-verbal. Volunteer will fast learn how to live in Poland, because he/she will accompany wards in their social training (it concerns shopping, going to public institutions etc.).
There will be also possibility for the volunteer to take part in regular trainings run for the workers of the center. Taking part in the project may be also important for the self- development of the volunteer as working with mentally disabled people teaches us A LOT about ourselves.
The key aspect of the project is also volunteer’s learning process. Each person coming for EVS is individual, has distinct needs, personality, different skills and gifts. Learning process depends on each person. Beginning from communication in foreign language, managing own budget, preparing meals, live in international environmental, going to planning and putting into practice ideas about leading own workshops with pupils and finally self-reflection and evaluation of the project. Each person will learn in their own time. Volunteers will learn in three ways:
– Learning-by-doing and on their own mistakes,
– Learning based on clues given by experienced coordinators, couches and youth workers,
– Learning one from another three possible ways of learning is connected with tree steps rules „Tell me, and I will forget, show me, and I will remember, involve me and I will understand.